Lawyer: Widow of alleged Boston bomber suspected nothing

Apr. 23, 2013
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In this Sunday photo, Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, center, wife of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, exits a car at the home of her parents in North Kingstown, R.I. At left is her father, Warren Russell. / Katie Zezima AP

by Greg Toppo, USA TODAY

by Greg Toppo, USA TODAY

The young widow of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev learned of his alleged role in the attacks the same way millions of Americans did: She saw it on TV.

Katherine Russell, 24, worked long days as a home health care aide and suspected nothing - neither as her husband allegedly planned last week's terrorist attacks nor in the four days that followed, her attorney, Amato DeLuca, told the Associated Press.

He said Tsarnaev, 26, cared for the couple's 3-year-old daughter while Russell worked. Last Thursday, when she left for work, DeLuca said, Tsarnaev was at their Cambridge, Mass., home. Hours later, police say, Tsarnaev and his younger brother, Dzhokhar, engaged officers in the early-morning firefight that killed the older brother and wounded the younger one. Police captured Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Friday night.

Asked whether anything seemed amiss to Russell in the days following the bombings, DeLuca said, "Not as far as I know."

He said his client worked 70 to 80 hours a week, seven days a week, and did not suspect her husband of anything. "When this allegedly was going on, she was working, and had been working all week to support her family."

DeLuca said Russell never saw Dzhokhar Tsarnaev at their apartment. She met her future husband at a nightclub while attending Suffolk University in Boston. Russell converted to Islam and they married in 2009 or 2010, he said.

Federal investigators on Sunday visited her parents' suburban home in North Kingstown, R.I., but didn't question her, DeLuca said. He told The Providence Journal, "I can tell you unequivocally, without any hesitation, that she was not with federal agents."

In a statement, the family said late Friday: "Our daughter has lost her husband today, the father of her child. We cannot begin to comprehend how this horrible tragedy occurred. In the aftermath of the Patriots Day horror we know that we never really knew Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Our hearts are sickened by the knowledge of the horror he has inflicted."

Hours after police named the brothers as bombing suspects, Russell's family put their home up for sale. In listings, they asked $467,000 for the three-bedroom Colonial home, built on 0.74 acres in 1993. They took the listing down Monday, their Realtor said.